Overview
The following assignment is an exercise designed to help you begin the process
of addressing a moral issue, a process that will continue in the next two
assignments. In this exercise, you will do the following:

·Formulate an ethical question
within one of the given topic
areas from the list provided.

·Provide an introduction in which
you briefly explain the topic and the particular question on which you will
focus your paper.

·State your position on the
question at issue.

·Identify one consideration that
would support your position and one consideration that would challenge it.

Instructions
The exercise must be at least 500 words in length (excluding title and
reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing
Center (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
Be sure to include a title page and, if you include references, a bibliography.
The exercise should be in outline (not essay) format, with each part labeled
and numbered as specified below.

1.Part One: Formulate the Question
Read through the list of available topic areas, and select a topic on which you
would like to write your next two papers. Formulate a specific, concrete,
ethical question pertaining to that topic, and place that at the top of your
paper.

The question should be specific enough to discuss in six to eight pages (which
is the length of the Final Paper assignment). For example, if you were
interested in discussing the topic of capital punishment, a question like “Is
capital punishment wrong?” would be too vague, and would need to be
reformulated as a more specific question, such as “Should we execute people
convicted of first degree murder?” or “Is it just to use capital punishment
when there is the possibility of executing innocent persons?” or “Is the
capital punishment system racist?”

2.Part Two: Provide a Brief Introduction to the Topic
Your introduction should focus on setting out the topic and scope of the
discussion in a way that clearly establishes what exactly you will be talking
about and why it is significant. It should also provide any necessary context
such as the background, current state of affairs, definitions of key terms, and
so on. You want to try to do this in a way that stays as neutral as possible,
avoids controversial assumptions, rhetorical questions, and the like. In other
words, you should try to construct an introduction to the topic that could be
an introduction to a paper defending any position on the question at issue.

It is important for your introduction to narrow down the topic as much as
possible. Doing so will allow you to provide a more detailed consideration of
the issues and explain the reasoning more clearly in later papers. In general,
arguments and analyses are much stronger when they focus on addressing a
particular issue thoroughly and in detail, and doing so often requires deciding
on one particular question or point to discuss, and leaving other possible ones
aside.

You should label this section of your paper as “Introduction.”

3.Part Three: Provide a Position Statement
State clearly and precisely the position you intend to defend on the question
you have formulated. This does not need to be more than one sentence.

Note that providing a position statement does not necessarily presume that you
are confident in your position, that other positions do not have merit, or that
you cannot change your mind later. However, for now, it is important to at
least tentatively take a stand on a position you believe to be better supported
than others.

Label this section as “Position Statement.”

4.Part Four: Identify and Explain a Supporting Reason
Identify and explain a plausible reason someone could give that supports the
position you have taken and be sure to clearly explain why you think it
supports that position. The explanation should aim to be three to five
sentences (shorter explanations are possible, but will likely be inadequate;
longer explanations are likely to be too verbose).

Label this section as “Supporting Reason.”

5.Part Five: Identify and Explain an Opposing Reason
Identify and explain a plausible reason someone might give that would oppose or
challenge the position you have taken and be sure to clearly explain why you
think it would oppose or challenge it. The explanation should aim to be three
to five sentences (shorter explanations are possible, but will likely be
inadequate; longer explanations are likely to be too verbose). You should
strive to articulate that reason in a way that someone defending a contrary
position to your own would do. This requires stepping back from your own
position and being able to think about the problem as objectively as you can.
You should not attempt to respond to this opposing reason.